Today Nicky and I studied Jackson Pollock. After our class we went outside and made some of our own abstract expressionism pieces of our own. The joys of homeschooling *sigh* allow us to be outside with our girls instead of stuffed in a classroom He, and the girls, were covered in paint. Thank goodness for washable paints!

Unfortunately, he has a real paint ball gun. He used it every day for weeks and then all of a sudden, nothing. Thankfully! The rocks in my back yard are all spotted. That elastic one on his back hurts like hell though. He is all boy. I spend time every night emptying out his pockets after bed. He has Swiss Army knives, mini binoculars, strings, elastics, pins, bottle caps, a pencil, rocks, sticks, dead plants, you name it, its in his pockets. I'll miss it someday.

I spend time every night emptying out his pockets after bed. He has Swiss Army knives, mini binoculars, strings, elastics, pins, bottle caps, a pencil, rocks, sticks, dead plants, you name it, its in his pockets. I'll miss it someday

You will indeed miss it...but wait til you find the glob of worms that you missed and they were washed and dried in the pocket...not pretty I tell you.

I finally made the decision to homeschool, ohhhh, two days before he started school this year! I have always wanted to do it, it was just the boyfriend that was afraid. Nicky has never enjoyed school but that wasnt my only reason. We have a pretty good school here, thats why we moved to this town, so children from other towns will also come here. Unfortunately, most of these children were having many problems in their own towns schools so the parents just bring them here. There are a group of 3 kids in Nickys class that really shouldnt be here. They hurt other children physically, mentally, and emotionally. Nick would come home from school at the end of the day and when we would talk about what he did in class almost our entire conversations consisted of who got dragged out of class, who got hit, who broke his favorite pencil, who ripped his art work, who flicked him in the arm. This was just about daily. And he wasnt even picked on that much! There were other children that got it worse. The conversations they had with Nick about him being a vegetarian? I dont even want to get into.

I have been told that because these kids are "special needs" our school cant have them removed. They have tried many things over the 2 years we have been there. Last year the guidance counselor tried to bribe the children with toys. Last resort? The kids were graded daily by a color chart. If you didnt have to be spoken to all day, you got a green. If you were talked to once, you moved yourself to a yellow. Three times, orange, four times pink, and then red you had to go to the principal. So, if the troublesome children got yellows and greens for the week they were able to go to the GC and pick a prize. My boy came home last year and asked why HE didnt get a prize if he got greens all the time. How do I explain this to him?? You arent bad enough to deserve a prize?

Little bit of this and a little bit of that made me finally tell my boyfriend I'm just going to do this. So much time is wasted in school. Nick and I have already learned how much quicker we can learn things and get our work done. There is a decent number of other homeschoolers in our area so we have signed up for all kinds of things. He can take music lessons in the middle of the day and try TWO instrument lessons. He cant yet decide if he likes drums or guitar better We take swim, soccer with the YMCA, art classes on Tuesdays with a retired art teacher, and weekly hikes with another homeschool family we really like. We belong to the National Wildlife Federation now and go to all kind of animal classes every other Friday. We have tagged Monarchs before they left for Mexico, checked out and learned about deformed frogs because many of our waters are polluted, and made our rescue mouse a flying squirrel nesting box . Remy! We could do some of this stuff on the weekend but not all. We fit so much more into our week now that we are home. And, he gets to socialize. That is what I always get for a question first. "But how do you socialize him if he doesnt go to school?" When do kids get to socialize in school now? He got a 20 minute recess, you cant talk at lunch now because you get 20 minutes and there is no time, kids get in trouble for talking during gym because there isnt enough time to get all that they need to done. Talk during class? Ha! He didnt socialize at school when he was there. Now, we hang out with people at our library and talk, people at the grocery stores, the post office, my chiropractor, he knows the town clerk on a first name basis now. NOW he socializes. Blah, blah, blah. I'm just glad I decided to do it. It isnt for everyone. This is my son and I want to teach him. I want to learn together. He is a completely different person. He is happier and so am I